The Perth Auto Dismantlers Major Atom Warriors participated in the 45th Annual Stratford Silver Stick Christmas tournament and came away with the GOLD!
In game one of pool play action the Warriors showed the crowd they had come to play. Beginning with two shots on net and two goals the boys never looked back. It was a decisive 8-0 win for the Warriors with goals coming from Carter Petrie (3), Blair Stokes (2), Nathan Siebert (2), and Colin Schultz. Helpers came from Petrie (3), Steele (2), C.Schultz, and Austin Musselman. The net minding duo of Brenden Sippel and Ryan McGill were fearless between the pipes, holding on for the shut out!
Game two saw the Warriors take down the Milton Winterhawks 4-0. Petrie opened the scoring with a powerplay goal, assisted by Stokes and C.Schultz. Again on the power play late in the first, Grady Murphy nabbed one, assisted by Stokes and Petrie. Murphy danced in for an unassisted goal late in the second and C.Schultz put the icing on the cake in the third with Stratford’s fourth goal, assisted by Steele and Stokes. McGill was consistent in net, while Aaron Green, Rylan Hall, Zach Schultz and Blake Hodgson kept the Milton snipers at bay.
An early morning tilt against the Burlington Eagles resulted in a 1-0 win for the Warriors. With an end to end battle for two periods, netminder Sippel was huge in net. Ryan Gansevles and Dylan Abel were strong in the neutral zone while Dawson White battled hard along the boards. C.Schultz finally slid one in on a scrum in front of the net, assisted by Stokes and Murphy.
In semi-final action the Warriors found themselves in a repeat show down against the Hamilton Huskies. Ryan McGill was on call between the pipes and he made key saves throughout the game, keeping the Huskies off the board. After tremendous pressure C.Schultz finally slid one past a strong Husky goalie. C.Schultz doubled that lead at the 13 min mark in the third, assisted by Siebert and Steele giving Stratford a 2-0 lead. Petrie grabbed a third goal for the Warriors, assisted by Stokes and Blake Hodgson. A solid team effort allowed the boys to move on to the gold medal match Friday morning against Burlington.
Once again the Burlington Eagles put up a big fight but in the end Stratford came out on top with a 4-1 victory! After a scoreless first period, Stratford capitalized on a power play opportunity with a tip in from C.Schultz, assisted by Petrie. Moments later, Grady Murphy nabbed a goal, assisted by Stokes. Not to be out done the Eagles slid one past Sippel making it 2-1. With moments left in the second Murphy scored his second of the game off a feed from Petrie, and White. In the third, Stokes netted one making it 4-1 Stratford, assisted by Petrie and C.Schultz on the power play. A late battle down low in front of the Stratford net resulted in a penalty shot for Burlington but Sippel was having none of it and shut down their sniper. With the gold medal win the Warriors will travel to the International Silver Stick Tournament in Sarnia in January.
Upcoming Action: League play resumes on January 6th at the RBC vs Hamilton at 2:30pm.